Hong Kong has again topped the global list of the most expensive cities to live in, ahead of Singapore and Osaka, according to the latest survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
It’s the second consecutive year the SAR has taken the crown. In last year’s rankings, the three most expensive cities were Hong Kong, Singapore and Paris.
The rise in the cost of living in Asian cities has been a feature of many of our reports in the past 10 years, and the trend continued in 2019
Nicholas Fitzroy, EIU’s risk briefing director
Asian cities took up the top four spots among the 10 most expensive cities, with Tokyo coming in eighth, according to the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey for 2020, which looked at the prices of 160 items in 133 cities worldwide.
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New York was fourth in the global rankings, followed by Paris and Zurich, jointly in fifth place.
The cost of living in major Chinese mainland cities is, by comparison, lower, with Shanghai ranking 23rd, Shenzhen 26th and Beijing 49th. Taipei was 58th on the list.
“The rise in the cost of living in Asian cities has been a feature of many of our reports in the past 10 years, and the trend continued in 2019,” said Nicholas Fitzroy, the EIU’s risk briefing director and editor of the survey.
He said the survey also showed some “striking contrasts, with opposing trends in local currencies, inflation and domestic demand growth, seeing the comparative cost of living falling across Europe, while rising in North America”.
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On average, the cost of living has dropped by about 4 percent in the cities polled, mainly reflecting the impact of easing monetary policies on global currencies, uncertainties brought by the Sino-US trade row and the strength of the US economy, the survey said.
Syria’s capital, Damascus, Tashkent in Uzbekistan and Almaty in Kazakhstan were at the bottom of the list.
